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In 2019, five Class 12 students from Amity International School, Noida, reached the Technovation competition final with Maitri, an Android app intended to connect children living in orphanages with older people in old-age homes. The team said the service could help both groups find companionship while also making volunteering, donations and visits easier to organize.
The students competed as Team Tech Witches. Technovation’s official records list Maitri among the 2019 Senior Division finalists; Amity International School says the team won a Bronze medal at the World Pitch Summit in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Who created Maitri?
Team Tech Witches consisted of five students at Amity International School, Noida:
| Student | Reported role |
|---|---|
| Ananya Grover | Chief executive officer |
| Anushka Sharma | Team member |
| Arefa | Chief technical officer |
| Vanshika Yadav | Chief marketing and analytical officer |
| Vasudha Sudhinder | Chief design and communication officer |
Amity described them as Class 12 students and the sole Indian representative among the 2019 Senior Division finalists. The project was entered in Technovation Challenge, the program now known as Technovation Girls. Its competition model asks teams to identify a community problem, build a technology solution and support it with a business plan and pitch. Technovation’s program overview explains the current format.
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Why the students chose loneliness and companionship
The idea began with Grover’s experience after the deaths of her grandmother and grandfather. She said she watched her grandfather lose a sense of purpose and struggle with loneliness after his wife died. Sudhinder then suggested linking old-age homes with orphanages, reasoning that children without stable families and older residents in institutional care might benefit from spending time together.
“Maitri” means friendship in Sanskrit. That name reflects the project’s central idea: the two communities should not be treated only as recipients of charity, but as potential sources of companionship for one another.
The team said its objective was to address loneliness, depression and social isolation. Those were project goals, not clinically established outcomes. The available accounts do not provide an independent mental-health evaluation or evidence that Maitri produced lasting medical benefits.
How Maitri was designed to work
The team’s 2019 business plan and contemporary reporting describe a service combining social connection with practical support. Some functions were proposed in the plan; reporting also said the app had been available on Google Play for several weeks by August 2019.
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Profiles and discovery
Organizations could create profiles containing addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers. Users could search for nearby orphanages and old-age homes, allowing institutions in the same area to find one another.
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Requests for help
Profiles could show requests for money or specific goods. Individuals could identify opportunities to donate, volunteer or arrange activities rather than relying only on one-time contributions.
Direct contact and scheduling
The proposed contact options included telephone calls, email, SMS and WhatsApp. A calendar function was intended to help institutions schedule visits or shared events, with reminders for upcoming meetings.
Visits and shared activities
The distinctive feature was the connection between the two types of institution. A visit, conversation or group activity could give children and older residents regular interaction, while the same system could help volunteers coordinate practical assistance.
In an August 2019 account, the team said Maitri had already facilitated two meetings. That is a historical report of early use, not evidence that the app continues to operate.
What evidence did the team gather?
The students said they surveyed 145 people and interviewed administrators of old-age homes and orphanages, who were intended to be direct users of the system. This shows an effort to conduct user research before pitching the product.
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However, the published accounts do not provide the questionnaire, demographic breakdown, sampling method, statistical analysis or detailed results. The survey therefore cannot establish that it represented all residents, families, volunteers or care institutions, nor can it prove improved well-being.
How the app was built
Arefa used Java knowledge learned at school and through Technovation’s coding curriculum to develop the Android app. The 2019 descriptions identify Maitri as a mobile social-impact application, not an artificial-intelligence product.
The team divided responsibilities across technology, management, marketing, analysis, design and communication. That structure matched Technovation’s requirement that teams present more than a working interface: they also had to explain users, operations, funding and impact.
What happened at Technovation?
Technovation’s award-recipient page lists “Tech Witches — Maitri, India” among the 2019 Senior Division finalists. Amity’s announcement says the students won a Bronze medal at the World Pitch Summit. A contemporary Times of India report described Maitri as one of the top six Senior Division projects and placed the presentation in Santa Clara.
Because contemporary descriptions use both San Francisco and Santa Clara, the event is best described as the San Francisco Bay Area World Pitch Summit. Maitri should not be described as the overall Technovation winner: the official record establishes finalist status, while the Bronze result comes from the school’s account.
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Coverage of the 2019 competition reported more than 19,000 participants, 170 semifinalist teams and representation from 38 countries. Those figures describe that historical edition and should not be treated as current Technovation statistics.
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The students identified DonateKart and Justdial as indirect competitors. DonateKart was presented as a broad donation platform, while Justdial primarily supplied contact information. Maitri’s proposed distinction was a focused network for orphanages and old-age homes that combined institution discovery, social interaction, event planning and material support.
That reciprocal model is important. A conventional charity directory usually frames one party as donor and the other as recipient. Maitri tried to make companionship itself the exchange: children and older residents could meet, talk and participate in activities, while volunteers and donors could still provide goods, money or time.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The practical safeguards Maitri would have needed
Connecting children with unfamiliar adults and arranging visits inside care institutions creates responsibilities that an inspirational pitch cannot solve by itself. A production service would need, at minimum:
- verified institution identities and current administrator contacts;
- guardian or institutional consent for children’s participation;
- identity checks, supervision and clear rules for in-person meetings;
- moderation, reporting and emergency procedures;
- privacy protections for names, photographs, locations and contact details;
- accessible alternatives for residents without smartphones, reliable internet or digital skills;
- careful measurement of whether participation helps or causes distress.
The available 2019 sources do not document a detailed safeguarding framework, verification system, privacy policy or data-retention practice. They also do not show whether the team’s proposed funding model became sustainable. The students discussed corporate social-responsibility support, crowdfunding and advertising while maintaining a nonprofit orientation.
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Did Maitri continue after 2019?
The app was reported as available on Google Play in August 2019, and the team reported two early meetings. Later Technovation alumni material still identifies Ananya Grover’s team and Maitri as a 2019 finalist project.
No source available for this article verifies a current app-store listing, active maintenance, user numbers or continuing meetings in 2026. Maitri is therefore best understood as a documented 2019 student project and competition finalist, not as a service whose present operation has been established.
Why the project still matters
Maitri illustrates what youth innovation programs can enable: students identified a human problem, spoke with potential users, learned to build an Android application and presented a social-impact business case internationally. Whether the prototype became a lasting organization is a separate question from what the team accomplished in 2019.
The project’s strongest lesson is also its most demanding one. Technology can make it easier to find institutions, coordinate visits and channel donations, but meaningful support for children and older people depends on consent, trust, supervision and long-term institutional care. Maitri put that relationship at the center of its design.
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